


Lost Chances

by Harukami



Series: For The Birds [5]
Category: DRAMAtical Murder
Genre: M/M, Multi, bird romance which is for birds
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-24
Updated: 2014-03-24
Packaged: 2018-01-16 20:28:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,844
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1360678
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Harukami/pseuds/Harukami
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Aoba wants to discuss the situation with Koujaku in person, but brings Mink with him -- and of course, Huracan comes along. How will he and Beni react to being face to face again?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Lost Chances

They go to Japan, all four of them. 

Huracan is not programmed with a personality type that would lead to much of a sense of nostalgia, but he does find that it, as the saying goes, brought back memories. Midorijima is the same, in some ways -- the same overcrowded and hectic human movement, and the same sense of unstable and dangerous life. But it has also changed quite thoroughly with the fall of Toue, Inc. as well. The walls of Platinum Tower are well along the way to being deconstructed; people from the residential district can move in and out. With that, the landscape has shifted as well; since the area that had been Platinum Jail is becoming more of a standard upper-class district, the slum area of the North Block have shrunk and large parts of it are more reputable -- though the parts further out from Platinum Jail, and the parts off to the sides, are still the abandoned lots and torn-down warehouses Huracan remembers.

After the initial settling in -- seeing Tae, discussing things there, and so on -- he sees plenty of those warehouses, because Aoba had talked Mink into catching up with Scratch. "They'd worried about you, you know," Aoba had chided him. "I kept contact with them plenty before I ended up coming out here to see you. They talked about you all the time and they didn't believe you could have died either. So let them know you're alive. They're your friends, after all."

They aren't, to Mink's mind, and Huracan knows Mink wants nothing more to do with them. Not that he hadn't been fond of some few of them in his own way, but Mink is Mink; that was a part of his life that is over, and he is done with looking backward. Besides, the act of being "Mink" to them isn't the same as being Mink anywhere else; it's a performance of cruelty and dominance Mink has long tired of, and Huracan knows Mink doubts wouldn't be put to the test again.

It's true enough. While Aoba and Ren go and talk to Koujaku, Mink goes out and sees Scratch. After the initial shock of seeing him at all, they begin laughing and shoving each other and looking at Mink's hair and presence and presentation and just kind of acting like it's a situation they couldn't believe. Some, as Aoba had said, are glad Mink was alive. Others see someone who had dominated and crushed any poor behavior and someone who was no longer that person, and decide to challenge that.

In other words, Mink gets into a brawl.

***

"I'm back," Aoba calls, card sliding into the slot of their hotel room, and stops short, Ren sleeping in his arms. "...Is everything okay?"

Mink, bandaging his hands, looks up. "Yeah."

"Uhhh."

"There was a minor altercation," Huracan says. "Mink took care of it."

"Yeah," Mink says, giving Huracan a quick glance. 

It wasn't something they discussed between them, but they didn't need to. The brawl had been nothing to talk about. Disobedient underlings who were shown how easily Mink could still become the person they remembered. Aoba would worry and regret it if he knew this had happened, however, and only more so since he had encouraged Mink to go see Scratch. It wasn't that it had even gone poorly -- after Mink landed the first hit, his more loyal, closer crew had gathered around him to fight and force the others to stand down, and in a way, perhaps that was a proof of friendship in itself. Still, Huracan knows that by saying it this way, Aoba will brush it off as the usual danger of the Residential District, not anything tied to Mink's relationship to Scrap.

Sure enough, he does. "Not badly hurt, right?" He's worried as he comes over, takes one of Mink's broad hands.

"Just a split knuckle," Mink says, shortly, but lets Aoba fuss. "How was it?"

"Um," Aoba says. "Good, I think ... I think so, yeah," and he smiles a little. "This kind of thing's always easier face to face. Koujaku seemed to be doing well. He said that I didn't need to come out all this way, though it's always good to see me. Just -- that he'd wanted to get it off his chest, especially now that I was happy with someone else, so he could move on."

Mink says, "Hmm," in a noncommittal tone. Then, "I'm glad."

"We're going to hang out lots while I'm here," Aoba says. "He's -- he says he's just glad to keep my friendship regardless, and for our distance to not be so far I can't visit. So it's pretty nice."

"That's good," Mink says, and Huracan is almost starting to feel like they actually dodged the bullet when Aoba adds,

"He wants to talk to you in person, too."

***

It's the strangest possible meeting so, of course, it happens in Tae's house. She and Aoba seclude themselves in the kitchen to cook and chat, with Ren staying with Aoba; Mink leans back on the sofa, taking up more space than seems possible (a muted threat display, Huracan suspects), and Koujaku leans against the wall, arms crossed.

Huracan sits on the back of the sofa, watching them, and Beni, of course, is on Koujaku's shoulder.

"You injured your hand," Koujaku notes.

"Just a split knuckle. It's not the safest place to be," Mink says.

Koujaku's lips twist in something like a smile. "And I'm sure you made plenty of friends who were happy to see you, last time you were here."

"Haa," Mink says, noncommittal. His fingers twitch; Huracan recognizes the gesture. He wants a smoke.

But he can't really pay attention to them -- well, it's impossible not to pay attention to Mink. He's Mink's Allmate; he monitors his condition and enacts his will. The conversation is meaningless, though. Instead, he's incredibly aware of the silence between himself and Beni.

He doesn't know what to do.

On the one hand, he feels like he shouldn't say anything. It's not his place; Beni has already told him that whatever beginnings they had were done with. It was over. They were over. He'd cut it off before it started.

On the other hand, though, he feels like his unwillingness, his inability to express his feelings properly were what caused all these problems. If he had just been honest from the start, if he hadn't defended his emotions for some reason he couldn't even put words to and lashed out, if he hadn't leaned on Beni's feelings for someone else at the worst times and in the worst ways, then what?

But he'd already apologized. And Beni wanted none of it.

But is it right to continue like this, to not express himself now because he'd originally chosen not to express himself-?

"Listen," Koujaku is saying. "It's none of my business, and I know it. But -- take care of him. Not for my sake, though he does mean the world to me, but -- he's --" Koujaku paused, seeming to struggle with words, licked his lips. "Aoba's someone who'd fly out here just to make sure I'm okay. He knows I've always found solace in his presence, so if he thinks I'm upset, he comes all the way back here to give me solace? He gives all the consideration in the world to other people, but he'll neglect himself for it. That kind of person needs to be protected."

Mink lets out a breath. "You don't need to tell me it," he says.

Koujaku lets out an uncomfortable laugh, obviously performed. "I know --"

"You don't know," Mink says. "...I'm aware of the type of person he is. I'm aware of his vulnerabilities, and how someone could take advantage of that. It's not something I want to see happen."

"Haa." It's Koujaku's turn to just exhale noncommittally. "You smoke?"

"Used to."

"Quit?"

"Just -- lost my pipe," Mink says, and shrugs.

This time, Koujaku's laugh sounds more genuine. "You lost your pipe so you quit smoking? I was thinking of going out for a smoke. You can bum one off me if you want it."

Huracan expects Mink to reject this advance, is actually surprised when he doesn't. "Yeah," Mink says instead, and rises. "Huracan, stay here. Get me when Aoba calls."

"Of course," Huracan says.

Koujaku tilts his head, gives Beni a smile. "You too, Beni," he says. 

Watching them interact is, in some ways, a moment of realization for Huracan. He can understand, suddenly, how Beni would love Koujaku more than just being a tool whose duty was to Koujaku. It wasn't that he wasn't fond of Mink, but this was different; Koujaku's smile to Beni had been focused. The expression on his face narrows the world, as he speaks to him, to just the two of them. While he's never been dissatisfied with how things are, with him and Mink, it's just entirely different. Seeing it, he feels he can understand the fierceness of Beni's reactions.

_I really have been incredibly out of line_ , he thinks.

And as he thinks that, he's left in the most absurd situation he can even imagine. Just him and Beni here in the living room, while Mink and Koujaku smoke together outside. The silence, already oppressive, becomes unbearable. At least there is an excuse for their silence when the focus is on their masters. 

"Beni," he says, finally, "I really am sorry."

"Ugh, more apologies?!" Beni doesn't seem to know where to look, staring off angrily at the kitchen door, as if watching for a sign of Aoba's arrival. "Not much good at this point, are they?"

"Not really," Huracan says. But what's the point withdrawing now, either? "I regret it. If I could do things over, I would."

"You can't," Beni says. "Goddammit! You did shit over and over and expect things to just be fine now? Even if you make the effort now, why would I want to?! Sometimes you just miss your chance!"

Ah, Huracan thinks. And there it is. Of course, he's seen something like that before -- but even though Mink lost his chance, abandoned his chance, Aoba wanted to see what would become of that chance enough to follow him, despite the risk. Without someone willing to do that, there's no hope.

Better to do as Koujaku had done, then, and get it off his chest. "I like you. I handled it poorly, and I apologize. That's all."

Beni is silent for so long that Huracan doesn't think that he's going to respond, that perhaps he'll just pretend he never heard it, and then he says, in a strange, sullen, hopeful voice, "If it's something like that, you really are an idiot."

And then Aoba comes out of the kitchen, and they both have to go for their people, and dinner is too busy to talk, but Huracan feels strange, restless, and relieved even though, through all logic, there should be no real reason to feel relieved by an answer like that.

But maybe his chance isn't lost.


End file.
